


Sober Decisions (They Take More Effort)

by countrygirlsfun



Series: Decisions, Decisions [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Car Accidents, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Hostage Situations, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, M/M, Misunderstandings, The Alpha Pack, wrong window fic continued
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-04
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-10 10:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3287657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/countrygirlsfun/pseuds/countrygirlsfun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles should have known his life would be different after he started dating a werewolf and became a part of his pack</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When Tempers Flare

Life is weird.

One minute you’re thinking you have a plan, you think you know even just how tomorrow is going to go and then something happens and it all completely changes.

In the span of a day Stiles Stilinski gets his world turned all around. He goes from being the guy who just moved into his new townhouse with his best bro and starting his masters program, to the guy who’s cooking breakfast and agreeing to a date with the guy who ended up drunkenly passed out in his bed. Then that changed to Stiles and Derek dating each other and by the holidays Stiles becoming _pack_.

Which was just surreal.

Of course it can’t all be sunshine and rainbows. He struggles with getting his thesis going, gets attacked by Jackson, and kidnapped and tortured under Gerard Argent’s orders. That kinda messes him up for a while. He feels he was allowed his breakdown when Scott ran up behind him between classes and grabbed him in a hug from behind. As much as he had tried to deny that the kidnapping affected him he couldn’t anymore once he was hyperventilating on the sidewalk. And when it’s Derek, who Scott has to call to come find them, that completely makes Stiles’ mind go calm and his body relax it’s another sign to Stiles that Derek is his person.

Like his forever type of person.

That’s what makes this suck so bad. Stiles had realized how much he trusted and connected and fucking just loved everything about Derek. And now that they’re fighting it just makes it all so much more pronounced. He can’t stop thinking about him now that he’s not with him all the time.

They’ve had arguments of course. About important things. Things like Derek not telling Stiles about his first girlfriend. About the reason his eyes are blue. Stiles’ dad ended up calling him out on being an insensitive ass and they worked it out easy enough.

It never got to the point where it turned into a knock down drag out fight. It makes sense somewhere in Stiles’ brain that of course their first _big_ fight couldn’t be about something small and insignificant like the dishes or being late all the time or not giving each other enough time throughout the week.

So they couldn’t just fight about something small and petty and be able to shake it off right away. Oh no, no they had to go and fight about something as big and important as their future and what they want from each other and if they want kids.

Something in Stiles had just assumed that Derek being a werewolf meant he enjoyed family. And he does, Stiles knows this. Because no one who sees Derek with Laura or any of the other family members could think anything less. And anytime Derek and Lizzy are together it’s just insanely adorable the way they play together. 'Uncle Derek' is one of Stiles’ favorite Derek’s he’s ever seen. 

So they’re laying on the couch together, nice as you please, spending a Sunday just relaxing and avoiding their thesis projects for a single day. They’re talking quietly in Stiles’ living room and it’s just really nice Stiles thinks. He thinks about how he always wants this. He always wants Derek to be the person that Stiles goes to with his worries and his stress. And also the person he tells about his day; like the random guy at the coffee shop or the dude in the library that snores so loud he wakes himself up.

As they lay there Stiles thinks back to every other time he’s thought about a future with Derek. It was never a big revelation or some enlightening moment. It’s always been just small things that happen and Stiles finds himself thinking in terms of Derek and future as synonyms. Like picking up real estate magazines to read while in a waiting room somewhere. Or seeing advertisements low interest rates on mortgages. Or driving past the school and wondering if Derek will get a job. Or past a dealership and thinking he really should get a new vehicle because the Jeep isn’t going to last forever. The little things that make Stiles think of adulthood also made him think of Derek. Like would Derek want to buy a house? How would we afford it? What if he wants to build? Does he want to even live in Beacon Hills? Should Stiles get a new car? Will they get one together?

The worst is anything about kids.

They’re waiting in line for coffee and the woman in front of him has a little girl strapped into a sling on her back. Stiles ends up making faces at the baby the entire wait and when they get to the front of the line Derek just looks grumpy and annoyed. Which at the time, Stiles just assumed he had needed his first cup of coffee of the day.

Stiles doesn’t have any reason to stop his habits. So he’s always making faces at babies so they smile or saying hello to toddlers who’ve wandered away in the supermarket and getting them back to worried parents or cooing at the tiny socks and shoes as they walk by them in Target. And it takes a bit, but Stiles notices, every time Stiles does something even remotely related to children Derek gets the most frustrated and surly look on his face.

Every damn time.

And it doesn’t make sense, but Stiles doesn’t push it. Well, that is if not pushing it means bringing it up while they’re cuddling. He thinks he does a pretty decent job of being subtle. But Derek goes stiff in Stiles’ arms and completely shuts down.

When Derek refuses to even acknowledge the issue, Stiles gets irritated. When Stiles doesn’t let it go and they sit up on the couch Derek gets agitated. And when Derek starts lying, badly and loudly, Stiles starts to actually get angry. Soon enough they’re standing across from each other each pacing on their half of the room to let out their nervous energy.

They go from yelling at each other about why Derek keeps deflecting about children and their future to all the other things bothering them. Like the fact that Stiles is working on something and won’t tell Derek and how Derek goes home at least once a week if not twice without explanation or reason.

It all culminates with Derek questioning Stiles’ loyalties. Stiles had been pacing and waving his arms and hands in emphasis and yelling but after the words leave Derek’s mouth, Stiles freezes. His hands clench into fists at his sides. His glare goes steely, just like his dad, and he turns to Derek slowly.

He gives a modicum of credit to Derek because when Stiles turns to look at him all calm, collected fury, he looks slightly terrified.

"Get, the fuck, out of my house."

His voice is hard and demanding and Derek's eyes flash at the command but as his fear fades away, his anger comes flooding back in and filling the void. He moves to step toward Stiles instead of back to the door but Stiles loosens a fist and splays his fingers out as his hand raises ever so slightly, telling Derek non-verbally first that he needs to stop.

"I am the son of a man who for a few years of my childhood was an angry drunk. I learned how to have a temper and trust me you don't want to see me actually lose it."

Derek stops then and stares at him, anger still pulsing through him. He doesn't move forwards but he doesn't turn to leave either. After a moment of nothing happening Stiles snaps.

"I asked you to leave."

Derek growls then proper and furious as he spins around and leaves, slamming the door as he does. Scott and Laura are nowhere near the houses otherwise they would have already burst in to calm things down. Stiles, for his part, hasn't felt this angry, hurt, fucking betrayed in a long, long time if ever.

His normal levels of frustration and anger can be dealt with by cleaning or cooking or organizing. This though, he's shaking from the adrenaline and all he wants to do is drive to Beacon Hills as fast as he can drive and rant to someone. His dad or Talia or Parrish. Someone who will let him yell again and let it out. But his jeep can’t take the speed he needs and his dad is probably on shift and Talia knows nothing about his anger and Parrish knows nothing about werewolves.

He can't stay here or he'll start breaking things. He hears a rumble next door and the sound of tires squealing announce Derek's departure. It takes all of thirty seconds before Stiles decides what he needs to do and is taking the stairs to his bedroom two at a time. He changes into light running tights and shorts and throws on a long sleeve shirt as well. It's a chilly spring but he doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon so he should be plenty warm.

The forest behind the townhouse is mostly controlled. There are paths and checkpoints throughout but it's still handy for full moons when Scott is too restless or stressed to stay in the house. So he grabs his ear buds and his house key, jams the buds in his ear, and goes to his angry running playlist.

Yes, he has one of those.

After locking the door behind him with still shaky hands he just takes off. He's got his phone and key in his armband so his hands are free to help keep his balance. He starts out on the trail but after running the mile loop twice he goes straight through the woods instead. He's jumping over fallen trees, splashing through tiny creeks and ducking under branches as he pounds out mile after mile.

He has to stop and rest eventually and he checks his phone while he catches his breath. He's 7 miles in and probably 3 miles from home based on his GPS tracker. He also has about 10 messages from Scott and Laura asking where the hell he and Derek are since neither of them are answering their phone and they were supposed to be spending the day in.

Stiles answers just Scott with a perfunctory text saying only, " _running. eta 35min_." He gets a response immediately.

_"How far?"_

_"10mi when i'm done."_

_"Shit."_

Stiles snorts at the last message, puts his phone back in the armband, and takes off. It's scary how well his almost-brother knows him. That that length of a run can't mean anything good. Even if Stiles runs on the regular, 10 miles out of the blue with no warning is a bit much. So Scott knows something's up at least.

He's still running hard, pounding the earth below him for the first mile back. By the time he thinks he's two miles out he's had four more texts buzz his phone but he doesn't stop to read them. He slows his pace a little and finally feels his anger ebb away just leaving him feeling tired and hurt.

He finally checks his phone to see he's on his last mile and should be home soon. He keeps heading in the right direction and slows his pace again so he's cooling down. He hasn't run that hard in a while so he's gotta loosen up the acid build up in his legs before he gives up and curls up in bed. Alone.

He pushes that thought away for later and continues his cool down. He stops and stretches for a few minutes and then he's walking again to the path and gets to his backyard in minutes. He has to spend another few minutes stretching but once he feels good and loose he goes inside and finds Scott pacing in the living room.

Stiles is sweaty and gross and knows the breeze from the door opening and his movement into the room is what pushes his scent towards Scott. So it's unsurprising that Stiles is grabbed by his shoulders before he even makes it into the room mere moments after walking in.

Scott's eyes are burning red and his hands are firm on Stiles arms keeping him in place.

"What the fuck. I get back here from groceries and it smells like you two had fucking world war three while I was gone."

Stiles tries to get angry again, tries to tell Scott everything and angry rant like he wanted to just over an hour ago. Instead he just slumps under his best friend’s gaze and tries not to let the tears fall as he blinks them away. Scott shifts his attitude in a heartbeat and has Stiles wrapped up in a crushing hug. It's grounding and just what Stiles needs to pull himself together for a little bit longer.

Stiles pulls back after only a moment and sniffs.

“I’m gonna shower,” he tells Scott, voice rough.

Scott just nods and lets go of the hug.

“I’ll go get some food.”

Stiles just nods and shuffles over to the stairs. He hears Scott all but run out the door and then the sound of his car pulling out of the driveway. He strips off his sweaty clothes and throws his phone on his bed. He’s fully prepared to completely ignore the stupid thing for at least the rest of the day.

He jumps in his shower and thinks about all the things they yelled at each other. The worst of it really is that Derek still doesn’t trust him. Doesn’t believe that Stiles is really loyal to the pack. He pushes away his thoughts and just showers on auto pilot. By the time he gets out and dressed in his own comfy clothes, not the ones that smell like Derek, Scott is back.

Before Stiles even gets down the stairs Scott is coming up with his arms full of junk food. Stiles turns right around and goes into Scott’s room and flops down onto the futon and grabs a pillow. He pulls his feet up and sits clutching the pillow to his chest. Scott just follows and starts unloading his arms. Stiles sees Taco Bell, Doritos, whiskey, zebra cakes, juice boxes, potato chips, dip, queso and chips. Stiles takes a moment to be baffled at how Scott managed but decides this whole not thinking thing is really quite enjoyable and grabs a taco.

Scott waits but not for very long. Once he really starts to fidget and look over at Stiles eating his feelings away Stiles gives in. It comes out slow and halting. How they were fighting, obviously, but then adds what they were fighting about. And how Derek is still apparently questioning Stiles dedication to the pack and to him.

Under the bright sting of being considered disloyal and not committed to the pack there’s the deep aching disappointment at Derek’s attitude about kids. Stiles- Stiles did not like being an only child. Not having cousins or siblings or anyone growing up meant he was alone for a lot of the time. Holidays were never big affairs and when his mom died he ached for the constant company his mom always gave him.

He had his dad of course, but there are only so many times you can get away with having your kid in the patrol car or hanging out around the station. And Scott was always there, already basically Stiles’ brother, but he couldn’t constantly spend time with Stiles. He had his own home to be in and all Stiles really wanted was to not be alone.

He has had the dream and desire to have kids of his own since forever. He knows they’re messy and hard work and they’ll probably break his heart but Stiles wants them. Wants to have kids and a family so badly and knowing that Derek doesn’t want anything to do with them just wrecks him. How can Stiles love him so much, get along so well with him and his family and they don’t agree on such a huge part of their lives? Stiles just doesn’t understand why he’s saying these things because he really does think Derek is lying about something.

After a while the tacos are gone and Stiles has explained enough to satisfy Scott so they’re just sitting together eating their way through the snacks. Stiles hadn’t cried but come damn close and he knows his eyes are all red from his incessant rubbing at them. He’s still ignoring his phone so he doesn’t know where the hell Derek is or if he’s tried to apologize at all. He hadn’t noticed the Camaro coming back while they ate at all either. So when the doorbell rings he crawls out Scott’s room and marches downstairs. He doesn’t know if it’s Derek though and when he looks through the peephole he sees Laura standing there, hands on her hips and a frustrated look on her face. And if she thinks for one minute that she’s going to defend her brother she has another thing coming.

He pulls the door open and she takes in his face and his clothes and his scent and growls, eyes flashing gold.

“I’m gonna _kill him._ ”

And then she’s gone. Her supernatural speed gets her back to her car and seconds later she’s driving away just like Derek did a few hours earlier.

Stiles stands there confused for a moment before he closes the door and makes his way back up to Scott’s room. He knows Scott heard Laura so he doesn’t even say anything when he gets in the room. He’s done with the junk food binge though, so he walks in and just crawls up the bed to grab a pillow and curl around it.

And because Scott is the best bro he just throws a blanket at Stiles and cleans up the food and then leaves Stiles alone. He lays there thinking about everything under the sun that isn’t Derek.

He thinks about his classes. The homework he already has done that he’ll turn in this week. The homework he’s going to get. He needs to get groceries because while Scott went today Stiles has to go and get the staples. They’re out of eggs, bread, milk, potatoes.

He thinks about anything he can but eventually his brain gets back to his thesis. And then he thinks about the discussion he had with Derek about a section of it and his mind is back to Derek. He lays there curled around Scott’s pillow, the blanket pulled up to his chin. He should feel cozy and comfortable. But he still feels cold. Feels like there’s something missing and Stiles knows it’s the warmth of Derek in the bed with him.

He shifts around to try and get comfortable but can’t shake his discomfort. He plays and replays the fight over again in his mind. He thinks about all the times Derek has just up and left to drive back to Beacon Hills and never giving an explanation beyond his mom calling him. He goes over things from when they first met. Tries to remember when all the aversion to anything related to kids started.

Stiles has always been like he is with kids. And he knows he wouldn’t have ignored that kind reaction from Derek for so long. It all just doesn’t make sense. Stiles and he had pretty much decided they were it for each other over the holidays and the kidnapping was just another sign of how much Stiles had come to mean to Derek.

He thinks maybe something changed after the kidnapping. A few days after spring break was over and Stiles and Derek were back in school was the first time Derek went home unexpectedly. At the time Stiles didn’t think anything of it just thought it was about Gerard or something. Now though, maybe he thinks it could be something different.

That only lasts so long before his thoughts start to be a bit more self-abusive. That he must have done something wrong. He must have changed somehow for Derek to not want that kind of future with him. Does he think Stiles wouldn’t be a good dad? Does he think he himself wouldn’t be a good dad? Does Derek want kids, just not with Stiles? Does Derek want a _future_ just not with Stiles?

He gets himself all worked up and doesn’t even notice he’s been crying until Scott is there pulling him up into his arms. His brother is the best ever because he just lets Stiles cry and get it out for a while until he gets sleepy. Scott just lays them back down on the bed and holds on so the last thing Stiles remembers before he drifts off to sleep is feeling safe.

*

Waking up without Derek there four days in a row sucks almost as bad as going to bed without him for the same amount of nights. They haven’t talked since Sunday. Scott has tried to be reassuring. Tried to convince Stiles that some time to breathe might help them both calm down. And for the most part, Stiles believes him. He goes to class, works on his thesis based on Derek’s suggested changes and doesn’t see Derek even once.

He doesn’t even know if he’s going to his own classes until Laura comes over Tuesday night. She just walks right in to the house, up the stairs and into Stiles’ room and pulls him into a hug. She calls her brother an idiot and tells Stiles to plan on going home to the Hale house Thursday after class. Neither he nor Derek have Friday classes so Stiles assumes they’ll be home for the weekend. Laura doesn’t come back after that and Stiles has to wonder if this whole thing has been blown completely out of proportion.

He feels like his ADD is back from his teenage years with the trouble he has concentrating in his classes. It’s a miracle he’d finished his assignments for the whole week otherwise he doesn’t know what he would have done. He doesn’t know what it says about him that he’s become so dependent on Derek. Not for like, eating or living or anything. But like his happiness and how he spends his spare time is just completely intertwined with Derek. Maybe it’s the fact that Derek so quickly became Stiles’ best friend. Not the same level of friendship Stiles has with Scott, the main difference is that Scott is Stiles’ brother. Stiles has no _brotherly_ feelings for Derek.

Derek is the person who gets Stiles. The person who knows when to push and when not to. He’s the person who knows all of Stiles’ history and still loved him. Derek is the guy that Stiles feels safe with, who can calm him down and reassure him the best. He’s the guy Stiles comes home to and tells him about his day. But he’s also the same person who will debate with Stiles. Who won’t let him get away with shit or take the easy way out in his research. He doesn’t let Stiles badger his dad too much or get lost in his anxiety.

When he thinks about it that way, at least he’s dependent on someone who is good for him. He can only hope he is that kind of person for Derek too. He thought he was.

That is, before he marinated in his doubts for four days.

He drives himself to the Hale house not wanting Scott with him for some reason. Turns out, fighting with your boyfriend and attacking yourself with your self-esteem issues for four straight days really takes it out of you.

Stiles is exhausted already and he hasn't even had this 'talk' with the Hales. He doesn't know if they're kicking him out or reassuring him that Derek's the one out of line or what's actually happening when he gets there. He's feeling pretty bad for himself at this point and is ready to mope from his car to the couch in the living room after he parks the car. He doesn't even make it to the front steps before Laura is there pulling him in the house and down the armory in the basement.

"Laura? Laura, what are you doing?" He sighs still tired of just, everything.

She doesn't answer his question just goes to the open gun safe and asks, "Hand gun or shotgun?"

"Shotgun," leaves his mouth on instinct. She tosses him one and a box of shells and starts herding him back up the stairs.

"Laura what the hell?" She just gets him up the stairs and leaves him there but he's not alone long. He's upstairs long enough now to see the house is in chaos. Moments after Laura leaves him, Talia is there with a hand on his arm guiding him back outside.

"We don't have time to explain here. Get in my car and I'll tell you everything you need to know."

He obeys and crawls in the passenger seat of her suburban while she gets behind the wheel. He hesitates when he goes to put his seat belt on when he catches Derek's reflection in the rear view mirror. He turns to look at Derek where he's sitting in the back seat behind him.

"What-"

"I said I'd explain. It'll be easier if you ask questions at the end." Talia instructs as she pulls out of where she'd parked and gets headed back down the drive to the main road.

Stiles doesn't question his alpha and turns back to face front and put his seat belt on.

"I understand you had some talks with Derek and Laura about pack. Part of being the Hale pack and bearing the Hale name brings a traditional place of authority. As alpha of the Hale pack, I'm part of a governing body that keeps packs and alphas behaving appropriately. Since just before you were kidnapped we've been meeting about something we’ve never dealt with before. An alpha who is building a pack of alphas. We've tried different ways to stop him and we haven't been able to do anything about him through diplomatic means.

“He's- Deucalion is a ‘big bad.’ In terms of the police think, mass murderer or serial killer level of bad. After our first few attempts all of us on the council received threats. You weren't told about this in the beginning because while it was pack business it wasn't something you could help directly with and we didn't need support on any other level yet. It wasn't a lack of trust or desire to keep you out of the loop. Not every pack member knows little thing."

Stiles scoffs then because an alpha collecting alphas that calls himself Deucalion doesn't sound like a 'little thing.' Talia side eyes him before she's back watching the road as they drive down the freeway away from Beacon Hills and keeps explaining.

"Later, when the packs were threatened you weren't told at Derek's insistence. Again it wasn't from us not trusting you to know it just wasn't something we could use you for." She softens her tone as if she's realizing that she's told Stiles twice now that he's useless. "I understand, from Derek, that the attacks you've suffered have given you a small level of post-traumatic stress. With school and your already existing anxiety and stress, Derek and I choose not to add to it by telling you about the troubles were having."

He can't really argue with that. Apparently he doesn't hide as much as he thought from Derek. He has been stressed, and if this was something Talia thought they could handle without him he won’t fight her decision. But Stiles still isn’t really thrilled they lied. Why couldn’t Derek just say they were dealing with pack business but Stiles didn’t need to worry about it? That would have been enough. Well, Stiles probably would have tried to weasel out more information anyway but if Talia had told him to leave it alone, he probably would have.

"What changed?"

Talia's demeanor hardens again in anger.

"We received a threat against the pack that listed everyone they would go after and what they would do to each one. You and your father were on that list and before you think about panicking or calling him, Andrew has him in his car."

"Where are we even going?"

"We know the next alpha and pack he's targeting."

"How exactly does one recruit an alpha? What about the betas?"

"He has the alphas kill their pack and join him alone." She says, her voice hollow. Stiles wonders, and wishes he doesn't, how many alphas he's managed to recruit and what happened if they refused?

"So why bring the squishy humans along?"

Talia shakes her head at his lack of seriousness.

"Power in numbers. Also, divide and conquer doesn't always work well. I wanted everyone together in case the threats are realized. You will not be in the fight. You, your dad, Melissa, and Julia will all stay together and defend our exit."

"We're guarding the cars?" He asks flatly.

"And each other."

Stiles tries to joke away the tension but decides this time it's maybe too serious, too uncertain to try and make it lighter with humor.

They drive for a while in silence and Stiles almost completely forgets that Derek is there in the car. After about an hour of driving Stiles is sufficiently worked up. Talia's explanation gave him lots to think on and consider and worry over. He went from being tired and lethargic to tense and wide awake and anxious. His leg has been bouncing for ten minutes when Talia pulls into a parking lot of a business warehouse and parks.

Stiles has just gotten his seat belt off when his door is pulled quickly open and Derek is pulling him out of his seat. He's got angry eyebrows and a scowl so deep Stiles knows it's more anxiety than true annoyance. He pushes Stiles until he feels his back against the car and Derek has him blocked in with his hands on the car on either side of Stiles head.

His voice is rough with emotion or disuse but he's entirely serious when he looks Stiles in the eye and says, "I know we're fighting but we can't go into this without you knowing I love you. I love you and we're going to talk when all this is over and we're gonna fix it. I promise."

"Damn straight."

Stiles gets his fist in Derek's shirt and pulls him in to get his lips on Derek's before they go into whatever fight this turns into. They've never had angry kisses but this one makes Stiles want more. Stiles pulls back after a moment and looks Derek in the eye again.

"I love you too, asshole. Now go. And be careful."

"You too."

Derek leans back in and pecks Stiles lips before he turns and makes his way to where the werewolves are huddled.

Stiles grabs his gun and his ammo and makes his way to where he sees his dad. He thinks if they make it out of this evening he has the great possibility of having amazing angry makeup sex. He's checking his gun in the dim light, his dad at his side when they hear it.

 

Howls rise up from within the warehouse and then Stiles watches it all turn into chaos.

 

 


	2. After the Battles

Stiles teases Derek all the time about not being able to deal with his emotions. Truth is Derek has a pretty good handle on them as he is really quite self-aware. He just doesn't always show his emotions as expressively as Stiles does.

Right now as he cradles Stiles to his chest in his mom's car he knows his emotions are wildly out of control.

When Derek was a teenager he was sat down by his parents and had a few things explained to him. He had the normal embarrassing sex talk that most every young person has to sit through with their parents. But he also got a talk about pack dynamics. The main focus being that he was free to date whomever he wanted but the person, in the long run, needed to also fit in with the pack. Simply because if they were going to spend time with Derek they would spend time with Derek's family more often than in human relationships. And it all just worked out better if they at least could be civil to each other.

His first relationship was a disaster. He'd adored Paige and she had been a human in a pack of her own in Beacon Hills so he didn't have to hide any part of himself. But when a feral alpha came through town and attacked her as she left the school Derek had been the one to find her. And Derek had been the one she asked to end her pain and kill her quickly. At 16 years old that changes a person.

He didn't really date in high school after that but had a fun time exploring his bisexuality in college. He put up with a lot of crap but he also had a lot of fun with some people. After school ended he quit the casual relationships and found Kate. Then when it turned out she was a hunter using him for information he found himself throwing himself back into school and into a new city a few months later.

Of course, that's when he met Stiles and his whole life changed. Stiles was, _is_ , perfect for Derek. He keeps him from getting too grumpy and helps keep him on track with what he has going on. Whether it's homework or appointments or research, Stiles is the one who is there with reminders and help for Derek when he forgets or gets stuck on something. Stiles feeds him. It should be something to joke about but Laura would have burned down their kitchen a long time ago if Stiles hadn't stepped in and helped her.

Their relationship has moved rather quickly by normal standards, whatever those are. But they've had their ups and downs they've needed to work through just like everyone else has. They had to deal with Stiles being attacked first of all. It was then that the pack decided Stiles would be a member and then grew again with the addition of Scott McCall as well.

If Derek was a lesser man he'd be jealous of Stiles' and Scott's relationship. But as it stands, he is well aware that they love each other like brothers and it would take a lot to change that.

Having his boyfriend accepted into the pack meant that Stiles would fall under their protection. That was the most important thing for Derek after he had to help Stiles through his attack and the aftermath.

But it also began Derek's worries at the dangers Stiles would now be exposed to as he was nearly officially inducted into a werewolf pack. The pack wasn't what worried him, but outside threats like trigger happy hunters or feral wolves were what made him anxious.

He can't help but feel responsible for pulling Stiles into this crazy, often times violent world. And when he gets kidnapped it feels entirely like Derek's fault. He lets his family talk him down from depressing levels of guilt but he still feels like he failed in his responsibility.

At least he got Stiles back mostly whole and very much alive. The problems started just before the kidnapping when Derek was briefed on the Deucalion issue.

Hearing about an alpha that was surrounding himself with other, key alphas and having those wolves kill their own pack in order to join made Derek sick. It was disgusting and disturbing and unnerving. Derek realized how scared he was after Stiles was taken because at first they thought it was Deucalion not Gerard.

No one knew how long it would take to deal with this demented alpha. It could take weeks, months or even years. He decided that Stiles didn't need to know about the issue and kept him in the dark even as he went home mid-week at least once a week. And the idea of building a future with someone like Deucalion around and on the loose just wasn't going to happen.

Derek knows how important kids are for Stiles' future. He figured if he expressed at least mild aversion to kids Stiles would understand and maybe wait for future planning.  
Instead he gets his boyfriend to start asking about houses and cars. And Stiles will always find a baby if they're out doing errands. It's like now that Derek wants him to not think about their future that's all he's doing. 

It's not that he doesn't want a house and kids and a life with Stiles because that is exactly what he does want. He just doesn't want to rush into anything with a threat like Deucalion out there. He doesn't want to put Stiles at risk any more than he already is and he certainly doesn't want a child to be in harms way either. 

But that meant lying to Stiles. He is lucky Stiles isn't a werewolf because Derek is a horrible liar. And if Stiles could hear his heart beat stutter he'd be sunk. He gets away with it for a while but Stiles is far too perceptive and starts asking questions. He hadn't meant for the fight to get that heated and Derek knows that Stiles is completely devoted to him and his pack. But you get worked up and sometimes things come out of your mouth that were never supposed to. 

Derek will never forget the moment Stiles reigned in his anger and turned to Derek in calm terrifying anger. 

Derek was willing right then and there to just tell Stiles everything, do anything to fix what he'd just broken. But Stiles sent him out and Derek knew if he stayed and pushed Stiles would have shut down even further.

So he left. He left and drove home and told his mother they were telling Stiles no questions asked and stomped up to his room and stayed there. The only person who came in was Laura and she swung the door open so hard it bounced back off the wall as she strode into the room right over to his bed and hitting him. She punched his shoulders and chest and called him a dumbass and an idiot and he just took it until she stopped. When she stopped she just walked right back out with the demand that he fix it. And fix it now.

The problem was it was way easier to leave it alone for a few days than to try and have a long drawn out conversation with Stiles to explain everything. He has gotten so far behind in his research and his homework that he takes a couple days to himself to get all caught up. They only have another week before dead week and finals and he knows that it'll go way too fast. So he gets a lot of work done and plans on taking Stiles home to the pack house to have everything explained. He doesn't sleep very well in his bed that smells less and less like Stiles the more the week passes. By Thursday he's more than ready to fix things with Stiles but he gets a call from his mom. 

Deucalion is going after a pack. And this time they know which one. Derek rushes home after he makes sure Stiles is already on his way too. They all get loaded up into a few cars after the humans get armed. Derek had only just parked when his mother ordered him into her car. Then he watched Stiles walk back out of the house and follow his mom's direction into her car. He sat quietly while his mom explained most everything on the drive to where Deucalion is going to be. 

Stiles looks awful, like he hasn’t slept at all these last few days. Derek suddenly regrets not calling him or stopping by at least once. Hell, he’d rather do his work twice over if it meant Stiles didn’t look so defeated and exhausted.

He kisses Stiles against the car and promises that they're going to fix it. He has to reassure him that he loves him and that hasn't changed. 

They're all still getting ready when the howls rise up from the warehouse. The pack and Deucalion's were already fighting and everything was chaos.  

The Hale wolves had rushed in and quickly realized they were too late to do anything. The alpha pack was surrounding the area where the betas were held captive as Deucalion watched Ennis rip them apart. Derek fought alongside his mom and sister but there wasn’t much their pack of betas could do against so many alpha werewolves. They didn’t even realize that there was one outside until they were retreating. Derek saw red, figuratively, when they came out of the warehouse and they all saw Stiles down with an alpha above him. Stiles still had his gun and John had his handgun trained on the alpha but it would do little to stop the woman from leaning down and clawing Stiles guts out.

Derek, Talia and Josh all lunged forward and between the three of them they managed to get her away from the humans and possibly fatally wounded. When Derek turned around John was trying to get Stiles up and into a car but Derek was there in a blink of an eye to help. He hoisted Stiles up into his arms and took a great deal of comfort in the fact that Stiles tucked his head into Derek’s neck and relaxed into his embrace. They all got into their cars wounded and scared but everyone was alive and fully aware of how much they are up against now. How unprepared they were going into this fight.

So Derek is in the back seat of his mom’s car again holding Stiles to him as they drive back home. Strategic retreat has never sat well with Derek until now. As they get back on the freeway and Derek can breathe a little easier he starts to check Stiles for injuries. He finds blood on Stiles' hands and his shirt but it’s from a few cuts on Stiles' leg. Derek reaches down to peel the jeans back from the gashes and Stiles hisses.

“Sorry,” he murmurs and pulls his hand back. Derek takes his right hand that’s wrapped all the way around Stiles waist to hold Stiles’ hand. With his left he continues to look at the wounds and pulls the pain with his right. Stiles slumps in Derek’s hold and he might have overdone it a little.

“Stop, Derek. It- it doesn’t hurt that bad.” Stiles assures him and squeezes his hand where they’re still clasped. Derek stops pulling the pain but his mom tosses him the small first aid kit from the glove box and Derek sets about to take care of Stiles cuts, at least as much as he can only using one hand. He gets the jeans cut away from the wound more and starts to clean them out.

Stiles just hisses when the hydrogen peroxide fizzes as Derek pours it on the cut. It’s better when Derek pats away the blood and bubbles left over and gets it covered with gauze and taped down. Stiles seems drowsy and Derek really did overdo the pain pulling but he’s pretty content to let Stiles fall asleep in his arms as they drive home.

*

Stiles wakes up to Derek carrying him from the car to the Hale house. He wants to get mad. He wants to yell and curse Derek for not talking to him for four whole days. But he’s back to being completely exhausted and lets whatever happens happen. They sit through a quick briefing of the situation and then he’s being kissed on his forehead by his dad before he leaves. He's vaguely aware that Derek is carrying him again up to his bedroom and Stiles is being set on Derek’s closed toilet and then Derek is stripping him down.

After sleepy sponge baths Derek gets them both redressed in pajamas and into bed. Stiles falls asleep and finally sleeps through the night with Derek in the bed beside him.

He wakes up hot and knows exactly why when he tries to move. Derek has him pinned against the bed with an arm over Stiles chest and his head on his shoulder. Stiles just sighs and drags his fingers through Derek’s hair. It’s hard to stay mad with Derek so cuddly and pleasant in his arms. But it’s been four days of doubt and no communication. They can’t move on if Derek won’t actually talk to him.

Stiles feels Derek shifting around but he’s not waking up anytime soon Stiles knows so he shimmies his way out of Derek’s arms and replaces himself with a pillow. He stretches after he stands up from the bed and only falters a little when he forgets about his leg. The alpha the night before had scratched him up pretty good and he’s still a little stiff.

Talia had assured him that it wasn’t deep enough to change Stiles and he would be fine, just a little sore over the next few days.

Deciding an early morning run probably isn’t something he can do he throws on some clothes and makes his way down to the kitchen to see after breakfast. He gets down the stairs and sees Talia and Andrew sitting at the kitchen table, sipping at their morning coffee.

After he gets himself a cup of coffee he sits down across from them content to sit in the quiet. Talia turns to him after a moment.

“Did you and Derek get a chance to talk?”

Stiles shakes his head and takes another sip of coffee before he answers.

“No, I was basically asleep after the car ride. We just went to bed.”

She nods and stands up to come over to his side of the table. She sits on the chair next to him and puts her hands out.

“Can I see your leg?”

Stiles nods and shifts on his chair to put his left leg on her lap so she can look at the scratches. She rolls up the cuff of his sweatpants and peels back the bandages on his shin. He scrunches his nose when he sees the cuts starting to scab over and they’re all gross looking now.

“Does it hurt?” Talia asks hand already moving to lay flat on his skin and pull away the pain. But Stiles stops her.

“No, no it doesn’t I’m okay. It just looks gross.”

She huffs a laugh at him, replaces the bandage and fixes his pant leg. When she doesn’t move to let him put his leg down he looks at her again and she looks like she’s trying to figure out the right thing to say.

“Talk to Derek today, okay? We were just trying to protect you. He just wants you to be safe.”

It takes great effort to not snap back about how he could have been protected without being left to feel like shit about himself for four days. He can’t bring himself to be rude so early in the morning, though. Really Talia is only trying to help and Stiles supposes he can accept that. He just nods at her in response and she eases his leg back down to the floor. She reaches across the table then and grabs her coffee. Andrew gets up a moment later and pulls a package of store bought muffins out of the cupboard. He brings them back to the table and Stiles scrunches his nose a little.

“Is this how you guys live? Store bought baked goods?”

Andrew shrugs and stuffs half a muffin in his mouth but Talia smiles at him.

“I was going to talk to you about that actually, Stiles.”

He looks at her skeptically because, what?

“About muffins?”

She laughs lightly.

“No, about what you’re doing after graduation.”

“Oh.” Stiles says surprised because that was not what he was expecting at all. “Um, I was actually hoping to take a break for a little bit? The lease on the house is up on June first so I was thinking I’d move home with my dad for a little bit. I just- with everything that’s happened the last few months I kinda wanted a break?”

He winces because that’s probably the wrong answer to tell your alpha. Especially if you want to date their son long term. Admitting you’re not going to work and don’t want to be a contributing member of society just yet probably isn’t the best thing to tell the mother of the person you’re considering marrying. So it’s surprising when her face lights up and she smiles at him encouragingly.

“Good, good. That’s what we were hoping you would do. It’s-like you said, with everything that’s happened we didn’t want to see you throw yourself into work or the police academy too soon. I don’t know if Derek has ever told you but-“

She hesitates and glances at Andrew who just rolls his eyes.

“We’re rich,” he says in a bored tone of voice and shoves more muffin into his mouth.

Talia scowls at her husband and it reminds Stiles of Derek instantly. She huffs again and turns back to Stiles.

“Eloquent that one is.”

“Hey!”

“Anyway,” she continues as Stiles tries to stifle his laughter. “We have money. We also have been really busy and both our jobs are demanding more from us once the summer hits. We’ll need a little help around the house. Mainly with the food. Everybody is coming home and neither Andrew nor I will really be around for the basics like groceries and cleaning. The kids have all done their own laundry and dealt with their own rooms for ages now but the common areas,” she pauses to shake her head. “I feel like I never have time to get to them.”

Andrew looks up from his coffee then and cuts his wife’s rambles short.

“Basically we want to pay you to cook and bake us delicious food because we can’t do it as well as you can. Keep the groceries stocked and cook at least one meal a day. The rest of the day is yours. You up for it?”

Sounds great to Stiles.

“It’s a little…weird. But I’m game.”

Andrew nods and goes back to focusing on his coffee. Talia is all smiles and pulls him into a hug.

“Thank you, Stiles. Now,” she pulls back to look at him, “go talk with Derek. He’s waking up.”

Stiles just smiles back at her a little before he downs the rest of his coffee and gets up. Talia catches him in another hug after he puts his mug in the sink and before he makes his way up the stairs. He’s not really excited for this conversation. He can understand that Derek was just trying to protect him. But letting Stiles stew in his insecurities for four days because he didn’t bother to check in even once just wasn’t fair. Even if he hadn’t been so full of doubts Derek still could have called.

He finds Talia was right when he walks in the room and sees Derek just walking out of the bathroom. Derek doesn't waste any time asking if they can talk. Stiles just nods in response and they make their way to sit next to each other on the bed leaning against the headboard. He waits for Derek to start because if Stiles does it will turn into yelling faster than it should. He doesn’t have to wait long before Derek turns to look at him though.

"I'm sorry for not telling you. And for all the other stuff. I just couldn't-“

Stiles watches Derek search for his words. He thinks back again at how Derek has been different since around the time the kidnapping happened. It suddenly hits him then as he watches Derek fidget and struggle to voice what he’s thinking.

"He scares you."

Derek nods eyes wide showing just how right Stiles is.

"This is like nothing we've dealt with before and it scares the hell out of me. I just- I didn't want to start building something because I thought it would just be another thing he could threaten or take away."

Stiles lets out a little sigh of relief because this he can deal with.

"So it has nothing to do with me? I mean, we'd be planning a future if it wasn't for this psychotic alpha?"

"Of course! How could you think it had anything to do with you?" He asks Stiles honestly puzzled. But that just riles Stiles up because it's been four days of feeling like shit about himself that Derek doesn't know happened. He starts out relatively calm but his voice grows in pitch and volume the more he lets out.

"Seriously! You accused me of being disloyal and then didn't talk to me for four days, what did you think I was doing? Wondering what pack business was interfering with my love life? Derek it made a hell of a lot more sense that _I_ was the problem since you were the one yelling and accusing _me_."

He's up off the bed pacing and yelling at the end and Derek looks horrified. He slumps all his anger leaving as fast as it came.

"I thought you wanted kids and a future. Just- just not with me. Four days, Derek, of nothing. What- what was I supposed to think?" He hunches his shoulders and picks at his hands. Derek is up off the bed in a moment and pulling him into his arms. He feels Derek's shirt get wet and finally realizes he's crying and Derek is trying to calm him down. It's annoying how well it works.

"No, no shh. Stiles never. It was never about you. I love you, I want all those things you keep talking about with you, only you. I'm sorry I didn't come talk to you sooner. I'm sorry I made you feel that way. And I know you're faithful to this pack Stiles I never meant to accuse you of anything otherwise."

Stiles just soaks up Derek's comfort and feels the ache in his chest ease the longer they stand together. He's probably letting him off too easy but all things considered. Deucalion is one fucking scary dude. He knows Derek could have handled it all differently but Stiles can understand that he really was just trying to protect Stiles.

They don't talk about the particulars of anything but Stiles knows that Derek still wants him. And wants to build a future with him after they take care of Deucalion.

 

In the meantime, they both have homework to do and Stiles is so very close to finishing his thesis. They had both made it a goal to finish their papers before they had to start studying for their last round of finals.

They spend the weekend in Beacon Hills and go back to their houses by Sunday afternoon. The next two weeks fly by but it's nice to have something as mundane as school to focus on instead of murderous alphas. He has Derek back in his bed again or he sleeps at Derek's and somehow they make it through finals. The week had passed in a blur of studying, packing and taking the actual tests.

By the end of the week they're both exhausted but ready to move home to the pack house. Stiles' dad offered them the garage to use as storage. So all their pots and pans and household things they won't need right away get packed up to sit in storage. Derek already has a contract set up with the tech school in Beacon Hills to be a lecturer. He'd wanted to teach high school but the teacher he's been talking with since he was a student there isn't ready to graduate for at least another year. Stiles is all set and ready to take a break. The academy doesn't have constant enrollment so while he waits he's going to 'work' for the Hales.

Since Scott isn't done with his program and Laura isn't done being away from the family they're ending the lease on Stiles' and Scott's house but not Derek and Laura's. They have a conversation that only people completely comfortable being bros can have. Scott straight up asks Laura if he’s going to have to deal with Laura wanting to date his friends he brings over. After Stiles gets done laughing at the idea that Scott has friends that aren’t him or Allison Laura informs them all that she only dates older men.

It’s when Derek fake coughs “just Chris” that the questions start. It’s then they realize that Scott’s Allison is Chris’ daughter and hunter in training. Scott assures them that Talia knows they’re dating and that Chris and Allison are different from Kate and Gerard. All that had been settled after the kidnapping when Chris officially separated himself from the actions of his dad and his sister.

The fact that Laura was dating Allison’s dad is only a little awkward for the rest of them but Stiles can tell she does quite a bit of self-reflection on the matter because the next dude he sees her with is a lot closer to her age.

Andrew shows up the Sunday after finals are done to load up Stiles' and Derek's things to take home. Stiles sits back and watches the werewolves load boxes into the trailer and move Scott's stuff from one house to the other.

It's a strange feeling but Stiles figures it's all a part of growing up.

Even with his and Derek's worries about what will happen with Deucalion it's still a relief to be going home. To know he gets some time where he'll have no deadlines no projects no nothing. All he will be doing is cooking and baking at the pack house and helping Derek look for a house somewhere near the pack house for them to live. And for now he is completely content doing just that.


	3. Again?

It’s such an odd thing, the calm before the storm. Why is it calm right before a big disaster or chaotic weather? There should be some type of build up to the big moment. The false hope of the calm is what gets people in trouble; they can deny anything is going to happen at all.

It’s not as easy for the Hale pack while they wait for the next storm.

The Deucalion issue is no longer just the Hale pack’s responsibility. The other packs on the council have finally stepped up as well to keep an eye on the psychopathic alpha. They don’t think he’ll continue his destructive path but they have to be ready in case he does.

Stiles and Derek get all moved back home to Beacon Hills. Stiles officially lives with his dad but he still sleeps with Derek at the Hale house nearly every night. Derek thinks, aside from the stress of needing to watch their backs constantly, things are getting better.

They started to look at houses and didn’t have any problems finding exactly what they want. It’s a four bedroom, two bathroom house with an attached garage and it’s on the other side of town but in the woods just like the Hale house is. It’s close enough to the school for Derek to not have too bad of a commute and Stiles can get to his dad’s or the station in less than 10 minutes.

It’s perfect, really.

He and Stiles are getting better at least because they’ve gotten back to having open communication again. Derek found out after graduation that Stiles was planning a vacation behind his back. It was a surprise that he didn’t want to spoil not some secret to hurt the pack. Somehow Stiles worked it out so they could go to Mexico. He’d even gotten approval from the local pack and Talia to go for a whole week. Derek didn’t think he’d be able to enjoy himself. It would be too far away from his alpha and his pack.

Stiles held his hand the whole plane ride and didn’t even complain once when Derek turned clingy and nervous. Their hotel room in the resort was on the ground floor and lead out onto the pool deck. The whole first day they pushed two deck chairs together and lounged in the sun. They laid together where Derek could always have a hand in Stiles’ and be close enough to take comfort in Stiles’ scent being there to keep him calm.

After a day Derek finally relaxed and they spend the rest of the week enjoying their vacation to the fullest. They spent the mornings exploring and being outside while it was still relatively cool. They found a new place to eat for lunch nearly every day but they always had supper in the resort. The hot afternoons were spent nearly exclusively having sex in their air conditioned hotel room. Derek spent his days making sure Stiles didn’t get sunburned and Stiles made sure Derek didn’t get dehydrated in the heat.

Somehow they both made it home without either thing becoming an issue. Stiles got really, really tan and Derek just got darker. When they left, they left behind all the stress about the alpha pack. So naturally, by the time they get back things have gotten worse in their absence and their bubble of peace gets popped.

Talia had given them permission to keep their phones off and to relax for their whole vacation. Of course neither listened and got updated twice throughout the week by Laura that everything was okay. That meant, naturally, that when they _had_ to turn their phones off on the airplane is when something would happen. The boys landed and got their luggage in the car before they turned their phones back on.

Derek had missed calls from his mother and Stiles had some from both Talia and his dad. They both looked at each other wide eyed and nervous as they called their parents. Derek didn't waste any time and started driving home while he waited for his mom to answer her phone. It only took two rings before she picked up.

"Derek please be careful." She greeted him, voice urgent and scared.

"Careful of what mom? What's happening?"

"He's- his pack are all here and they've been, making good on their threats. Just please, Derek hang up and pay full attention to the road, okay? I love you."

"Love you too mom."

With that the phone call ended. The expression of love is what really gets Derek's nerves going. It's not that they don't say it to each other it's just… they don't say it. It's more of a given thing that they do in fact love each other. He can't imagine how spooked she must be to give him that kind of warning.

Derek listens as Stiles gets the same message from his father. He brings the car to a stop at the red light in front of them and takes a deep breath to try and calm down. He hears John respond over the phone gruffly, "love you too kid," and looks over at Stiles.

They just look at each other for a moment while they wait for the light to change before Stiles grabs Derek's hand and intertwines their fingers. Derek looks back at the road and watches the light turn green.

"What is going on?"

He shakes his head because obviously, "I don't know."

Out of the corner of his eye Derek sees movement but he doesn't have time to respond before all he can hear are the sounds of tires squealing, bending metal, breaking glass, and the scarring sound of Stiles' skull hitting his window as they rock with the movement of the crash. He doesn't even get his head turned to see if Stiles is okay before he blacks out.

*

Stiles doesn't think he blacks out for very long if at all. He blinks away the disorientation and takes in the smashed car, his pounding headache and the empty street around the crash. He knows this wasn't an accident and he's quick to find his cell phone and shove it in his pants instead of his pockets. He's unsure if he should try and move or not when he realizes he hasn't heard anything from the driver’s side of the car.

"Derek?" He croaks out but doesn't get a response.

As soon as he can shift himself in the wreck without feeling the need to vomit he turns and sees Derek slumped unconscious in his seat. Stiles watches in growing horror as blood starts to seep from a head wound and a cut in his side. He leans over and checks for a pulse. As soon as he finds one he claws at Derek's pockets for his phone. If the guys stalking towards his door are any indication of where this is going he doesn't have much time. With one hand he shakes Derek's shoulder and the other he tries to call Talia. It only rings once before she answers but then the door rips open and there are two alpha wolves pulling him out, pulling him away and Stiles loses it.

He screams and kicks and squirms as much as he can but the alphas’ holds are too firm and they get him out of the car. They get him on the ground and he keeps struggling until he hears Deucalion's command to stop. He pauses and looks at the man standing there next to his door. Stiles has never seen him before but the man is clearly the leader. He stands at an average height with sandy hair, sunglasses and curiously enough, a cane. Stiles stops dead when he sees the man. Instead of screaming he turns to pleading. He's already crying and panting for breath so he sounds pathetic as he begs.

"Please- please just- just let me get him to wake up so he can heal. Please- he can't die. I- I can't let him die. Please just let me- let me wake him up and then- then I'll go with you. N-no fighting or screaming. Just let me get him conscious."

Stiles looks up from his position between the two lower alphas and pleads with his eyes and his emotions as much as he was begging with his words. Deucalion merely tilts his head like a puppy and considers him.

"Curious, Mr. Stilinski. Very intriguing. Yes, you may wake him up. Release him."

Stiles sighs in quick relief as they let him go and he scrambles back into his undamaged side of the vehicle. He peeks down at the phone and sees its still connected. He doesn't dare bring attention to it and just prays that Talia or someone is listening still.

He reaches across the console and cradles Derek's face in his hands.

"Derek, Derek wake up. You hate this road remember? This is where you crashed your dad's car when he was teaching you to drive? And there was no one around to help? Come on man. Please, please wake up."

Stiles starts to panic as Deucalion starts counting down letting Stiles know he's got a limit on his time. He starts slapping at Derek's face lightly but grows harsher as the time dwindles and Derek isn't waking up.

"Derek you gotta wake up, babe. I can't leave you if you don't wake up."

He spares only a moment to tuck Derek's phone in his pocket and when he looks back up he sees Derek's eyes flutter. He's not fully awake yet but he's on his way back to consciousness.

When a groan leaves his throat Stiles is again pulled from the car and gripped tight around the waist as he's led away from the scene towards another SUV that's been waiting. Once they're in the car Deucalion asks for his cell phone. Stiles cringes when Derek's phone gets smashed after he hands it over.

It takes a great deal of effort to act unaffected that they don't search him for a second phone. Wherever they're taking him, at least his dad can track his GPS.

They don't blindfold him or try to keep him from knowing where they're going. Their lack of concern is probably from their confidence that he's already given them his cell phone and they won't be tracked and he won't get away. Which Stiles has to agree with the latter because he isn't even going to try and get away from a pack of alpha wolves that are faster and stronger and can track him no matter what he does.

It's been such abrupt shifts from relaxed on the plane, to worried in the car, to adrenaline rush of the crash, and then to the calm of Deucalion's SUV that his mind doesn't really understand how to react. His head is pounding now more and more as the adrenaline drains from his body and his injuries from the crash become apparent. His head is killing him and his ankle got twisted while he struggled to get back to Derek.

He figures the scent of his pain is filling the vehicle because Deucalion suddenly tells him, "We have a first aid kit waiting for you at our base. We hoped you wouldn't be harmed in the crash. Didn't anticipate your head smashing into a window." 

Stiles huffs, indignant, because what did they think would happen in a crash? But he's inclined to believe them. They'd smashed into Derek's side of the car after all and the longer they continue to treat him with kid gloves the more his understanding of their motives grows. The drive doesn't take long; the streets are empty and their destination isn't that far away from the crash site, definitely by design. It looks like a normal business park building from the front.

They pull the car around to the back doors meant for deliveries and ask Stiles to follow them out of the car and into the building’s stairwell. There's no shoving, no restraining just a polite request Stiles is willing to follow. They lead him inside the building and thankfully they go up the stairs instead of down into a basement.

Again Stiles feels that they're still acting as if he doesn't have a cell phone. He hopes by now his dad is running a trace. He hopes Derek isn't panicking. He's surprised with himself that he's not panicking at having been kidnapped again. Maybe because it's less traumatizing to be a hostage at your own choice instead of by force.

Whatever the reason, Stiles is grateful he's managing to keep his wits about him even as his head is throbbing with the movement and he limps a little with a sore ankle. He has to slow down as they continue ascending flights of stairs when the pain and the dizziness gets to be too much but as soon as he slows to a stop the lower alphas' patience are worn thin.

They pick him up as they thread strong arms under his armpits and lift him so his feet barely drag along the steps. They make it to the top of the building moments later at their quick pace and the stairwell door opens into a large bright room. Stiles is dropped to the floor of what appears to be a wide open space as soon as they get away from the door for the stairs and the alphas step back to guard the only exit. There's windows everywhere and the sunlight streaming in does nothing to ease his headache. 

The more he looks around the less empty the space seems. There's a row of doors along the far wall that Stiles suspects are individual rooms currently being used as cells. They didn't drop him to get him away from the door; they carried him and put him down next to a desk with what looks like a lot of basic medical supplies and other staples for keeping hostages alive. 

"You're not going kill me." Stiles blurts and the alpha pauses to regard him.

"You're not going to kill me," he repeats and is mildly proud of himself that his voice doesn't waver in the slightest. "Because you're not here to make war with the Hale pack. You just need them to leave you alone until you've finished."

"Very good, Mr. Stilinski. Now that you know you’re not in any danger I'll set out the rules. You may use any of these supplies to tend to your wounds. You may not try to bring harm to yourself. You may not try to leave through any means. Stairs, windows, don't try it. Your stay with us will be relatively painless if you choose to stay in your room and follow the rules. Hopefully, discussions with your alpha go well and you'll be home before you even miss a meal. If not, well, we'll see how long you last."

That is most ominous the alpha has sounded in their whole conversation since they met on the street. It finally gives Stiles a healthy dose of fear that he fights to tamper down putting his trust in Talia and his pack to take care of things and get him back.  

He gets a chance to clean up his face a little; he didn’t crack his head open but he still has a cut on his face. The blood is tacky as he wipes it away but it’s not as bad as it could be. He manages to bandage the cut and wrap up his ankle before it swells any more than it has already. He roots around through the supplies until he finds Tylenol and Advil and takes two of one and three of the other to get rid of his headache.

They only give him a few more minutes in the big open room after he takes care of his injuries. He’s directed into a cell at the other end of the room and lets himself collapse on the cot once inside. They close the door but leave it curiously unlocked. The small window at eye level lets Stiles look out and see the guard going back to his post by the stairwell door and Deucalion leaves.

Stiles sits in his cell and muffles the sound of him digging his phone out of where he’d hidden it by singing under his breath. He sings nonsense until he can think long enough to remember a song and then he sings it on repeat well after he’s sent his dad and Deputy Parrish messages to trace his cell phone. He sings a few more songs just for good measure and lucky he does because his dad texts him back and Stiles doesn’t want to risk them hearing anything even though the sound is completely off on his phone. Derek has told him that he can hear the light turn on for the screen even if the volume and vibrate are off. He keeps singing under his breath for a little while longer and just waits. His dad knows hes safe and will soon know where he is.

All in all, this kidnapping is going much better than his last.

*

Derek groans and leans into the phantom feeling of a hand on his cheek. His ears are ringing from the cacophony of sounds that came with the car crash. His first thought is if Stiles is okay. He blinks to clear his vision and starts shifting in his seat to assess what’s still injured. His side twinges and his head is pounding but nothing feels broken just bruised. He shifts in his seat again to turn towards Stiles hoping he’s fared better than Derek.

But Stiles isn’t there. He- he’s gone.

Derek scrambles from the car and sees the person who hit him has driven away leaving just Derek’s car smashed in the middle of the road. There’s no blood on Stiles' door and there’s no blood on the ground outside it. But there’s also no _Stiles_ anywhere either. Derek’s heart rate ratchets up another notch when he pats his pockets and his phone is missing.

He doesn’t know firsthand what a panic attack feels like but Derek thinks he’s about halfway to having one himself. He’s just standing staring at the empty car in confusion hardly managing to control his breathing and keeping his claws sheathed. It could be seconds it could be ten minutes later but the next thing he knows his mom’s car is screeching to a halt next to him and he’s engulfed in his alpha’s arms.

“Derek are you okay?” she asks without letting him go.

He just shakes his head, he’s not okay. Won’t be okay until he knows where the hell Stiles is.

“What did they do? Where did they take him?”

His mom tightens her arms around him.

“We know he’s alive. He’d called me and I heard him trying to get you to wake up. I could hear you groan and then there was more movement but the call cut out. He told us where you were though and it’s only been minutes since they took him. We’re going to find him sweetie.”

His dad wraps an arm around his shoulders and Derek takes a deep shuddering breath before he pulls away from his mom. This is, unfortunately, not the first time that Stiles has been taken. But it is the first time he was taken while Derek was there and able to stop it. His dad keeps an arm around his shoulders and pulls Derek to Talia’s SUV. His dad crawls into the backseat with him and Derek gets to sit smooshed between Laura and Andrew until his breathing goes completely even and he can think clearly.

They listen as Talia calls for a tow truck and then starts making calls checking in on different people. Derek doesn’t really try to keep track of anything beyond not wolfing out and trying to follow Stiles’ scent in broad daylight. The adrenaline drop after the rush of the crash and all that’s happened combines with his fatigue from flying and he’s nodding off right there in the car. He doesn’t know how much later it is when his mom gets back in the car and starts driving them away. He looks back and his car is gone and the only evidence of a crash is a little broken glass in the intersection.

Derek’s just along for the ride as his mom drives them all somewhere. This wasn’t supposed to happen again. Stiles was supposed to be safe. All Derek can do right now is hope he’s not being hurt like last time. Derek doesn’t know what he’d do if Stiles got hurt once again when he could have protected him.

*

Stiles spends a while in his cell trying to think straight and not panic or think about Derek panicking. After the texts sent and his dad responded Stiles had stopped singing but then to make it seem less suspicious he sings again. He goes through the entire soundtrack of Beauty and the Beast before he stops again.

He’s been in his cell for at least two hours when he hears it. He’d stopped singing probably ten minutes ago and has been sitting in silence ever since. He’s been listening to the quiet so long that the sound of sniffles and crying seems loud to his ears. Stiles had assumed he was alone but it seems he was wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time that happened.

He can hear a small voice trying to shush to person crying and geez there’s more than one other person and Stiles has been sitting here doing nothing for two hours. What if they need help. He listens and hears the voice say, “’saac, quiet!”

The voice sounded small because that’s a _kid_. He’s up off the bed in a flash and goes to the door. He pulls open the unlocked door and is met with no resistance. The wolf guarding the door does nothing to stop him from going to the cell next to his own where the sounds are coming from. He pulls the door open and freezes.

There’s three little kids- _babies_ \- in the room. They look like they haven’t had a bath or a proper meal in ages and Stiles is torn between wanting to cuddle them to him and somehow sprouting claws and fangs of his own to go after Deucalion himself. They took kids from multiple sets of parents from the looks of things. There’s a little girl with untamed blonde curls, a dark skinned little boy sitting stoically watching from the bed and another fair skinned little boy with light brown curls. The curly haired boy is the one that’s crying and the little girl is trying to comfort him. She can’t be more than four years old, maybe only three and the other two don’t look any older, in fact the boy crying on the floor looks even younger.

Once rational thinking returns and Stiles doesn’t want to go _destroy_ that motherfucking alpha with his bare human hands he notices that they’re all staring at him. The dark skinned boy got off the bed and is standing in front of the other two defensively and glaring at Stiles as if daring him to come any closer. Stiles puts his hands up and eases down to his knees so he’s not towering over them all.

“Hey guys,” he says softly, “my name is Stiles. I’m not going to hurt you, okay?”

The little boy acting as guardian doesn’t move but he seems appeased by Stiles actions so far and lets Stiles shuffle closer.

“Can you tell me your names?”

“Boyd. I’m five. That’s Isaac, he’s three and-“

“I’m Erica.” The girl cuts in with a sharp look to the- Boyd. “I’m four.” Even at four the girl already knows how to glare. That’s impressive.

“Nice to meet you guys. Are you guys okay? You’re not hurt are you?”

Boyd shakes his head and Isaac seems to have calmed down enough that he’s eyeing Stiles suspiciously as he continues to shuffle forward on his knees until he’s right next to the little group.

“Do you know how long you’ve been here?”

Boyd nods again, the spokesperson of the group apparently.

“Three days.”

“Three days!” Stiles exclaims. “Have they fed you at all?”

“They keep bringing us Happy Meals.” Erica answers sounding very much like she’d rather never see a Happy Meal again.

Stiles knows he shouldn’t but he’s getting attached already. He doesn’t know where their parents are if they’re even alive still. He doesn’t know if Derek is awake and fine. He doesn’t know if Talia found him and is working on finding Stiles. But he does know that he’s not letting anyone take these kids anywhere he doesn’t go. He is not letting them out of his sight.

*

Derek shouldn’t be surprised but he’s always in awe when he sees his mom really get shit done and be a leader. Apparently, even before Stiles and Derek were coming home from Mexico things were already in motion to take care of Deucalion. The neighboring packs as well as the other members of the governing council were already all on their way to Beacon Hills to help.

So by the time they get back to the Hale house there are over a dozen other wolves there waiting. Derek watches his mother organize their plan to stop Deucalion once and for all as more werewolves drive into the clearing their house sits in and join the group. It’s amazing to watch her seemingly so in her element. He knew she was a good leader but seeing her like this, with people outside the pack deferring to her and giving her complete control of the situation is just unreal to watch.

It doesn’t take long for everyone to get there and start getting organized before his mom takes a phone call. By the way her eyes glow alpha red and her lips curl in a predatory smile Derek knows something’s just gone very, very right. She hangs up the phone and draws everyone’s attention to her.

“We know where they are.”

Everyone gets directed to their cars and where they should all go in order to surround the pack of alphas to contain the fight. Derek just goes where he’s told, his mom’s car again, and awaits his own orders. As they drive Talia explains that Stiles had given Deucalion Derek’s phone not his own when they were trying to confiscate his means of communication. Then he’d sent a text to his dad and a deputy that they better be tracing his cell. The phone is still on and they know right where the alphas are waiting.

With this many people to back up his pack, Derek knows that even if it’s a trap, it won’t work now. Derek also learns why everything is happening now. Deucalion’s pack apparently wiped out a young pack in the next county over. Everyone was killed. Wolves, humans, kids, alphas and betas were all gone. The other packs were already starting to plan to assemble when the alphas made their way to Beacon Hills and started to harass the Hale pack.

Now though they’re going to be put down once and for all.

Talia doesn’t take too kindly to her children being attacked and held hostage.

Derek doesn’t have an actual part in the fight. He is supposed to stay out of the thick of things and be a part of the secondary team that makes sure no one gets away. Part of him wants to question his alpha’s orders, but with this many people around it’s not the time for insubordination. He’ll get to Stiles as soon as he can but he’s got to do as he’s told. Plus, with this many people to be compared to Derek is sure he isn't the best fighter of the group. 

So he hangs back while the group of werewolves surrounds the building as his mother leads them. A beta from the Johnson pack nudges him and Derek realizes he’s just been standing there staring in smug pride. He huffs a laugh and starts to patrol the exterior of the building with the other wolves on his team. It’s weird working with people who aren’t family, aren’t pack. But their common goal makes it easier. They’re all here to stop the madness that Deucalion has descended into.

The sounds of fighting reaches their ears as they continue to watch the building. Derek’s almost glad he isn’t in there to see whatever is happening but mostly he wants to know that his pack is okay, that Stiles isn’t anywhere near that fight. The sheriff pulls up just then with a deputy Derek is sure knows about the whole situation and its supernatural aspects.

Just when Derek thinks he can’t take another moment listening to his pack everything goes quiet. He hears his mom ask if everyone is okay and Derek lets out the breath he was holding. His mom’s okay. There’s a few replies that not everyone is so lucky. Derek doesn’t feel like any of his pack are harmed, it’s just a gut feeling that everyone is okay.

He stops straining his hearing and tells John that everything’s over and done. They take a minute or two to talk while they wait for everyone to exit the building. They’re talking about Mexico when the door opens and Talia walks out. Derek starts walking towards her and freezes when he sees Stiles.

Stiles is fine. He’s not hurt at all.

But Stiles has three werewolf cubs clinging to him like koalas that don’t seem to have any intention of letting go.

 

Oh, boy.


	4. Looking ahead

The closer Stiles gets to Derek the more Derek can see the condition he's in. There's a cut held together with butterfly clips on his forehead, his ankle is wrapped in an ace bandage and he's favoring that leg ever so slightly as he walks out of the warehouse. He's got two kids, a boy and a girl, in his arms with their faces tucked into his neck and their little hands fisted in his t-shirt. And there’s a dark skinned boy walking right at his side clutching at the bottom of his t-shirt as they walk. The longer Derek stands there unmoving the more determined Stiles' expression becomes. Derek still hasn't moved and as Stiles walks past he hardly pauses long enough but leans over and presses a quick kiss to Derek's cheek.

"Hey, babe," he says before he keeps walking towards Talia's car murmuring to the kids. He's broken from his stupor when John claps him on the back with a fond smile.

"Welcome to life with Stiles."

Derek shakes himself and after he puts eyes on all of his siblings and his dad he goes back to the car. Stiles is in the back seat but the kids haven't changed their position. The two he carried are snug on Stiles' lap and the other little boy is squished into his side as much as possible. They can't be older than four Derek surmises and he can only imagine if they were part of Deucalion's war path that their parents are more than likely dead. He pops the door open on the side across from Stiles, all four turn to look at him and Stiles says quietly, "Guys, this is Derek."

All three of them snap their heads to look at Stiles in wonder.

"Derek from the stories?" The girl asks breathlessly.

"The very same."

"Wow," she breathes and they all turn to look at Derek with awe in their wide eyes. Derek takes that as permission to enter the vehicle and their space and eases himself into the car and shuts the door after himself.

"Hi, guys."

Stiles smiles at Derek's hesitance and introduces Derek to the babies attached to him.

"Derek, I'd like you to meet Boyd," he says as his hand comes to rest on the dark skinned boy's head gently. He picks his hand up and brings it back to the little girl's wild curls trying to smooth them back from her face, "This is Erica, and this brave little guy is Isaac."

"It's nice to meet you guys." Derek says and looks them each in the eye as he does. It takes a lot to not reach out and touch but he scootches closer on the bench seat. "Are you all okay? Are you hurt?"

Boyd and Erica shake their heads at him but Isaac whimpers. Before Derek can do anything Erica has shifted out of Stiles arms to the seat next to them so Stiles can wrap both arms around Isaac as he starts to cry softly. The movement puts Boyd right up against Derek's leg and when he doesn't flinch away from the touch Derek puts his arm on the seat behind their heads and let's his fingers caress the back of Stiles neck. Derek loses his breath when Boyd curls into his side and fists his hand in Derek's shirt.

He hardly catches the whispered, "He misses his mama," but it's like a slap to the face all the same. Derek brings his other hand around to hold the little boys head before he runs it down his back trying to soothe him. Stiles is having a lot more success comforting Isaac and it snaps something in Derek to watch him take care of the little boy so well. Who knew Stiles would be a natural with kids?

Not to be left out of the cuddles Erica grips one of Boyd's hands and wiggles her way back under Stiles' arm. They stay like that for a while unawares of what's happening in the world outside the SUV just trying to comfort the little ones. It's probably another twenty minutes before Talia and Andrew get into the front of the car and effectively break their bubble of isolation. Andrew turns in his seat to talk to the kids as Talia starts driving them home.

Something inside Derek's chest warms further as he watches his dad and Stiles interact with the kids. He knows from the look on Stiles' face when he talks to the kids and squeezes Isaac close that it's going to be hell getting those kids away from him. Derek is already thinking Stiles might be getting attached.

Funny thing is, Derek thinks he's having the same problem.

*

Of course, when they get home, all his suspicions are proven correct.

Everyone from the neighboring packs had returned to the Hale house with them so the sheer amount of people around is intimidating. Add into that recently traumatized, over sensitive werewolf _five year olds_ and it’s overwhelming. So Andrew and Talia get out of the car after they’ve parked in the garage and leave Stiles, Derek and the kids where they’re at.

Figuring they can wait all together just a little bit longer while his mom deals with everything, Derek decides it’s his turn to tell stories. He shifts so Boyd is on his lap and moves over so Erica is bracketed by Stiles and himself. He tells them stories that he figures Stiles already told making sure they know who the real hero of the stories are.

How the brave and mighty Stiles never gave up and was the one who told Derek how to come get him. How being human didn’t make him any less strong than the wolves he ran with.

By the end of it Stiles is looking at him like he’s never seen him before. When Derek takes a breath in through his nose he can smell the kids and their undercurrent worry that’s slowly getting washed out by curiosity. But Stiles, it’s like he doesn’t know what to feel. There’s so many different things in his scent, written on his face and his body language. His eyes are soft but his brows are quizzical. His shoulders are tense but his smile is fond.

Since their fight, Derek knows Stiles has been less confident, in himself and in their relationship. Derek has tried to assure him that the way he was acting had nothing to do with the fact that he didn’t want a future with Stiles. Given his reaction to hearing how Derek sees him, Derek bets he didn’t do as good a job as he thought he had.

It’s not like they can talk about it now though with three new wolves to introduce to the pack and try to decide what will happen with them. It doesn’t take as long as Derek suspects to deal with the packs because not long after he finishes telling his stories and Stiles is starting his own again that Talia comes back to the car and opens Stiles door.

“Hello, let’s go in the house now, okay?”

Stiles nods, confident that the kids will be okay, and starts to slide out of the vehicle. He turns back as soon as his feet hit the ground to grab Erica. Derek can see on his face and the way his arms are straining that he’s tired. So Derek just scoops Erica up into his own arms as he crawls out Stiles’ door as well. He makes sure to stay close enough that the two he’s got could reach out and touch Isaac if they wanted and follows Stiles and his mother into the house.

As they walk from the garage to the house Derek can see that everyone not in the Hale pack has well and truly left. It shouldn’t be all that surprising to walk into the living room and see everyone but Derek takes a moment to appreciate how the pack has grown recently. It’s not just Derek’s parents and siblings he calls pack anymore. There’s Scott and his mom and Stiles’ dad of course with the addition of Stiles.

He knows they’re all concerned for the kids that Stiles and he are carrying into the room but Derek still doesn’t care much for being the center of attention. His heart beats a little faster and Boyd and Erica turn to look at him in confusion.

“It’s okay,” he whispers to them and they relax when he does.

Stiles and Derek make their way to where the family has left space for them on the couch. They settle down just like they were in the car with a boy on each lap and Erica pressed between them. Stiles puts his arm around her and Derek lifts his around Stiles shoulders. They don’t have to worry about having all the focus on them for too long when his mom starts to speak.

“Until I can meet again with the committee, the Hale pack has been charged with caring for the remainder of the Lahey pack. Vernon Boyd, Erica Reyes, and Isaac Lahey will be under our protection for the foreseeable future. All things considered, today ended about as well as we could have hoped. You’re all free to stay here tonight, it would be nice to have everyone close for the night. There are enough guest beds and couches for everyone but if you go home, John, Mellissa, we might need a few more blankets to accommodate for everyone.”

Everyone nods and starts murmuring about the sleeping arraignments but Talia continues after a moment and they’re silenced. She looks at the kids who are still tense in Derek and Stiles’ arms.

“My name is Talia and I am the alpha of this pack,” she introduces softly and the rest of the pack follows her lead. They all come over to the couch one by one and crouch down as to not tower over the kids and tell them who they are and let the kids introduce themselves. Slowly but surely, Derek can feel Boyd and Erica start to relax. With each new face, each new friendly greeting and comforting scent they are more and more at ease. After everyone introduces themselves the meeting disperses. Derek and Stiles don’t move while Melissa, Scott and the Sheriff leave to go get overnight clothes and sleeping bags and the Hale family scatters to different parts of the house. Laura and Talia however stay in the room and are discussing what to do with the kids at present.

“First thing, we should each take one to a bathroom and give them baths.” Laura says innocently enough and Derek figures Stiles would appreciate some help. But the mention of being ‘taken’ has the little ones panicking and all of them crawl back to Stiles to hold on to him while eyeing Talia and Laura with deep suspicion.

At their strong reaction Stiles speaks up from under the sudden pile of children.

“Let’s go for group bath.”

Talia and Laura both nod with wide eyes, still surprised at the kids’ reactions. But with that decided, Talia goes off to find clothes for them to sleep in and Laura leads the way to the bathroom with the biggest tub. Derek takes Boyd and Erica back while Stiles cradles a sleepy Isaac in his arms. Derek hears Stiles’ jaw pop when he yawns as they walk up the stairs towards the master bedroom. Derek’s parents’ bathroom is the biggest in the house. With a shower stall, two sinks, big whirlpool bath and toilet, it’s the room with the biggest tub and most space.

Laura starts running the water and pulling towels as Derek and Stiles coax the kids out of their dirty clothes. Julia comes in after a moment with the baby shampoo and body wash and they’re all set. Stiles rolls up his sleeves and Derek gets the chance to take off his jacket. Laura hands each of them a wash cloth and they start helping the kids in the warm clean bath water.

Laura ‘accidentally’ hits the button for the bubbles and the kids squeal when they feel the jets turn on. Derek helps Boyd, Laura helps Erica and Stiles has Isaac as they start to lather the rags with soap and wash the kids’ dirty skin. It doesn’t take long for the water to get dirty and they drain it out before filling it again. After the kids are all clean and Stiles is looking more and more like he wants to pass out, Talia is there with warm, fuzzy towels and wraps each child in one as they’re pulled from the warm water.

The clothes she’d found Derek recognizes as remnants from Tom and Jill’s younger years. By the time they were born, the hand-me-downs they could have inherited from Derek were worn out. Derek may have felt invincible growing up a werewolf, but his clothes certainly were not.

After the kids are dressed they all gravitate back to where Stiles is leaning against the counter and look up at him as if he will tell them what’s going to happen next. Derek isn’t surprised to see Stiles understand that and cup their heads in his hands before he takes their hands in his and leads them out of the bathroom back into the house and towards the kitchen.

They get the kids fed some soup before they’re falling asleep in their meals at the table. It’s up to Stiles and Derek again to be the ones taking the kids to the room in the house they’ll be staying in. Derek figures that as much as Stiles would love to be able to just curl up in bed with them and make sure they feel safe, he knows he still needs to talk to his alpha. So he helps Stiles extricate the kids from his arms and gets them all tucked into the same bed in one of the guestrooms. As they leave the room, Derek sees a chair with a cup of tea next to it right outside the door. They both stare at it in confusion after they close the door behind them until Andrew walks up and sits down with his iPad in his hands.

“Just here to listen. You doing okay Stiles?” he asks quietly.

Stiles just nods and yawns at the same time and Derek puts a hand on the small of his back to lead him down the hall towards the study. His dad stops him though grabbing his wrist as they go to walk past.

“Take a shower first. Then when she’s done fussing over your ankle and your face you can go right to sleep.”

Stiles nods sleepily and Derek guides him up to their room at the house and into the bathroom. Derek figures now that the kids are taken care of and asleep, Stiles will let himself feel exactly how tired he is. Derek doesn’t know the finer points of human limits but he’s assuming that a flight from Mexico, car crash, abduction, hostage situation, rescue, and taking care of three little kids is probably close to the limit of what a person can handle in a day.

Derek couldn’t.

But since Derek only had to deal with about half of what Stiles did he tries a little harder to stay awake. He undresses himself before stepping over to where Stiles is resigned to being tangled in his shirt to help him. Any other time having Stiles pliant and willing in a shower with him would lead to some mutually beneficial activities. But right now Derek is lucky he can hold them both up when Stiles leans into Derek’s chest.

He scrubs over Stiles body, putting effort into being as thorough as he can before he puts more soap on the loofa to wash himself. He’s careful when he puts the shampoo in Stiles’ hair to keep the suds out of his eyes and his wound. When he’s done with Stiles he shifts them both so Stiles leans his face in Derek’s chest while Derek stands under the spray to get the soap in his hair and wash all the dirt and grime out. It’s times like these he hates how thick his hair is, but at least he doesn’t have to worry about losing it when he gets old.

He wrinkles his nose at that thought and his mind quickly goes to what Stiles will look like when they get older. He feels like the Grinch when his heart grew three sizes because something in Derek’s chest starts to feel warm again when he thinks about having Stiles around when they’re old. If he’s honest with himself, he wants to make sure Stiles is always going to be there with him. Because Derek doesn’t want to miss anything he could have with Stiles.

Pulled from his thoughts when Stiles kisses his shoulder he rinses the last of the suds from his body and turns the shower off. Stiles seems to have roused slightly and towels off before he makes his way to the bedroom to get dressed. Derek follows behind after scrubbing the towel through his hair and brings along Stiles’. Stiles throws him a pair of underwear followed by a pair of sweats to wear through the house to his mom’s office.

Derek just throws the towel at Stiles and walks over to him to rub it over his dripping hair until Stiles bats him away huffing laughter at him. Once they’re dressed and decent they go to find Talia. They don’t have to look hard because she’s right where Derek thought she’d be; sitting in her office waiting for them.

She stands and walks right to Stiles to pull him into a hug. Derek just stands there until he notices John sitting in a chair in front of his mom’s desk. He walks over and sits across from him while they wait. As predicted he has to watch his mom check over Stiles and his injuries. She sits him down on the couch while she wraps his ankle and puts a bandage on the cut on his face. She pulls him up and wraps her arms around him from the side as they walk across the room to Derek and John.

She looks at Derek and shakes her head, trying and failing to hide her amusement from him.

“Do you know how much I wish you two had met in some normal circumstance? It’s not really fair I have to tell people that my son found one of the smartest, bravest young men to love because he was too drunk to find his own room.”

John laughs and Stiles smiles tiredly but looks up at Talia in concern.

“What’s going to happen to the kids?”

Derek watches his mom shake her head at him and press a quick kiss to his forehead.

“We can’t know for sure yet sweetie. But we’re not going to worry about that right now. Right now you need to sleep.” She fixes Derek with a stern look then. “Both of you need to sleep.”

Derek doesn’t know why she’s acting like they’re going to do anything but that. The way Stiles yawns so wide his jaw pops, _again_ , is sign enough that it’s time for discussions to cease and sleep to happen. Derek just gets up, kisses his mom on the cheek and pulls Stiles into his arms to take him to bed. If he had even a little energy left he’d just pick him up and carry him. But with how he feels they’d end up in a heap on the floor halfway to the bed and end up just staying there.

So he guides Stiles back to their room and closes the door behind them. By the time he gets to the bed Stiles has shucked his pants and is once again tangled in his shirt. Derek quickly strips out of his own sweats and t-shirt before he crawls on the bed to help Stiles and get him in bed.

It only takes a moment after Derek pulls Stiles back against him that they both do their best to sink into the bed as their muscles relax.

He doesn’t even know if Stiles is awake long enough to hear him when Derek tells him he loves him. Derek doesn’t fight it when he’s asleep soon after.

*

It’s been three weeks since the packs took out Deucalion.

Stiles had woken up the morning after, wrapped up in Derek and feeling very much like he’d never like to leave his arms. He’s well accustomed to the feeling, it happens pretty much any time they wake up together. It takes him less than a minute to remember the previous day and the fact that there’s three little kids he’s somewhat still responsible for somewhere in the house.

He normally will ease out of their bed and replace himself with a pillow if Derek is particularly clinging in the morning to keep him asleep. But this morning Stiles jumps out of bed quickly and rushes to the bathroom before he’s throwing clothes on and gets dressed. He’s out the door and closing it behind him before Derek can hardly get a grumble out.

Of course he’d found the kids right away and they really haven’t let him out of their sight since.

That first day Talia made it clear that life would go on as normal. And while it was clear that Stiles wanted to be the person responsible to keep the kids safe, he also needed to realize he wasn’t going to be able to do that alone. Stiles, for his own part had known that and was entirely relying on the pack to be there to help.

Right away everyone was more involved. Laura, Stiles and Derek all took the kids out to Target to get clothes and toys and foods they like. Six hundred dollars later and they were driving home with everything they would need for at least the next few weeks.

Stiles and Derek got their stuff out of Derek’s wrecked car and had it fixed. They also started to move forward with buying the house they’d found. While they were in Mexico nothing had changed; they were still the only ones who had made an offer. So when they went back to the realtor and the bank, a few days later they had all the paperwork dealt with and suddenly they’re homeowners.

The next week was spent moving and if Stiles hadn’t just done this hardly a month ago he’d say he’d forgotten how exhausting it can be. After they got all their boxes moved into the new house Josh, Julia and Lizzy took Erica, Boyd and Isaac for the rest of the afternoon. It was supposed to give them a chance to breath and get organized in the new house together.

What it really did was give Stiles time to work himself up towards real panic at how he was going to move forward. He was still genuinely unsure of his future with Derek. He’d thought things were better but now with the kids Stiles is thrown back to all the times Derek dismissed the idea of having children of their own. Stiles won’t be letting these kids go anytime soon so in his brain that means that Derek will leave if he doesn’t want to deal with them anymore.

Of course there was also the added stress of the fact that he wasn’t going to get a job. He was going to ‘work’ for the Hales and let the pack and his savings account take care of him until he was ready to start a career. Now though, he’s got a house payment to worry about and he’s going to need to retire the jeep and get something safe and big to be able to tote his kids around. And then there are the kids. That cursory trip to Target barely scratched the surface of things they’re going to need for the three five-year-olds. How is he supposed to pay for all of it without a job?

He’d rambled and spewed his worries out at Derek while he paced and worked himself up until he found himself getting pulling into Derek arms. Derek told him that his dismissal of Stiles talking about kids was always an act. He loves those kids just as much as Stiles does and since there isn’t anyone from the kids' pack or families that want to take care of them, they’ll be the ones to be their guardians. Together. In this house. That Derek and the pack are going to pay for. Stiles doesn’t have to worry about money because the Hales have more than enough. And he won’t be a freeloader he’d be caring for members of the pack. Of course he can get a job and contribute when he’s ready but for now the pack is going to take care of their own.

He lets Derek’s words of love and comfort just roll over him and lets them calm him down. Derek tucks them onto their mattress that’s on the floor still and pulls a blanket from the nearest box to lay over them. They just lay there until Stiles feels like he can actually believe Derek’s words and keep going. They spent the next hour just wrapped up in each other until Stiles’ stomach growled in protest and they got up to get something to eat.

They’d left and went to Stiles’ favorite diner to eat something quick before they returned to their house, _their house,_ and started to organize. It took most of the afternoon to get the boxes in their appropriate rooms and their bed put together and made. Stiles used his last hour before they would have to go back to the pack house to put the kids to bed to start a list of things they were missing.

The pack may be paying for it all but Stiles is still going to ask permission for the things he needs. It’s not his money; he’s never going to assume.

But now, now it’s been almost a month since they dealt with Deucalion and Stiles is exhausted.

Considering all the things they’ve gotten done in a few short weeks (buying a house, moving in, adopting three kids, and furnishing their house) it’s no surprise.

But it’s been probably five days since he’s slept more than four hours at night. Even though it’s been weeks since their captivity the kids are still having nightmares. Derek has tried to get Stiles to sleep assuring him that he’ll take care of the kids. But for as much as Derek is a light sleeper, Stiles is even more sensitive lately. He can’t bear to think that he could sleep through his kids’ screams and cries. But between the two of them they’re fairly sleep deprived now.

Even though they wake up in the middle of the night the kids still manage to be full of energy during the day keeping Stiles and Derek on their toes. Their attachment issues only exacerbated how much time Stiles has had to spend with the three. It’s not really a hardship because the kids are great and Stiles loves spending time with them but by day six of not having near enough sleep Stiles is at the end of his rope.

Derek isn’t in any better condition. It’s to the point that his control has become a hair trigger. His eyes flash at the drop of a hat and his instructions come out growls more often than not. Stiles has been contemplating calling Talia for a day when it happens.

Derek is at the stove trying to make the kids’ lunch of macaroni and cheese so Stiles can rest with the kids while they watch a movie. But after hearing the fourth muttered curse Stiles gets up off the couch to go help him. The kids are still snuggled together under a quilt while they keep watching The Lion King in the living room. Stiles leaves them to it and walks into the kitchen.

It’s perfectly normal for him to sidle up behind Derek and wrap his arms around his waist, hooking his chin over Derek’s shoulder to see how things are going.

But this time, Derek swats at his thigh in surprise and Stiles yelps and pulls back. It smarts when he steps away from Derek and Stiles looks down at the tears in his jeans where Derek clawed at him. Derek looks down at his claws and Stiles watches his eyes widen when he sees them and sees the red stain on them. That gets Stiles attention again and he realizes then that Derek actually clawed his thigh and broke skin. He feels the blood start to drip down his leg and when he goes to move it pulls on the cuts making him hiss.

“Stiles,” Derek croaks out, sounding wrecked, “I didn’t- I didn’t mean to-“

Stiles shushes him and shuffles to the stove to shut it off and Derek springs into action grabbing his phone from the counter and the first aid kit from under the sink. As soon as the food isn’t in danger of burning Derek actually _picks him up_ and carries him to a chair at the table.

“Derek it’s okay-“

“No it’s not okay!” He exclaims as urgently as he can while still trying to be quiet. “I can’t believe I- We are getting some sleep now. I don’t care.”

Stiles just nods as he unbuttons and unzips his jeans then lifts his hips when Derek reaches up to pull them down. He picks up his own phone off the table and dials for Talia. Derek pushes Stiles’ boxer briefs up his thigh to expose the wound completely and starts to treat it. At this point Stiles is counting it a miracle that the kids are still in the living room and not standing there panicking at his injury.

Talia answers after only a couple rings and Stiles doesn’t feel as bad as he should when it sounds like she’s back at work.

“Stiles, what’s up?”

“We need your help.” He says and breaths in quickly through his teeth when Derek pours the hydrogen peroxide in the cuts to clean out any germs.

“Stiles?” she asks in alarm. “What’s wrong?”

Stiles can hear the shuffle of papers and a door closing before it sounds like she’s outside.

“We’re okay we just. We haven’t slept and Derek kind of-“

Derek reaches up and takes the phone from him.

“I clawed him, mom. We really need someone to come watch the kids so we can sleep.”

Stiles watches as whatever Talia says to Derek calms him down as he visibly relaxes before he says, “Okay, mom. See you in a few.”

Derek tosses Stiles’ phone back onto the table and returns to tending the cuts brow furrowing in concentration. Stiles runs his fingers through Derek’s hair softly and tips his head back to look at him.

“I’m not hurt; I’m not mad, okay? I know you didn’t mean it.”

Derek nods and leans in to Stiles’ touch a little before pulling back to get the cuts bandaged. Stiles just sits in his chair and lets Derek fuss over him. After they’re all dealt with Derek helps him the rest of the way out of his jeans and takes them to the laundry room while Stiles goes up to get new clothes.

By the time he gets back with new boxers and sweatpants on Talia is there at the front door. Derek beats him to it to let her in but the kids abandon the movie to see who’s there. It takes all of ten minutes from the time Talia comes in the door carrying a pizza before she’s leaving with the kids to spend the night at the pack house.

Stiles and Derek get through a few slices before they’re going around the house tidying things up while the kids are out of their hair. They get the living room cleaned up and the dishes done before they shove the leftover pizza in the fridge and trudge up the stairs together.

They fall into bed and immediately curl themselves together in the center of the bed under the blankets.

They don’t fall asleep right away and get to enjoy just resting together. Stiles rolls over to face him when Derek says tiredly, “this is only the beginning.”

The way he says it makes Stiles wonder if he’s still okay with their decision to be the kids’ caretakers. But once he rolls over and sees the quiet smile on his face his nerves are soothed.

“They’re going to stop having nightmares eventually. We’ll be well rested parents. And then we’ll have more movie days. We can take trips to the park and the preserve. They’re going to get bigger and start school. Then there’ll be sports like baseball and lacrosse and volleyball and whatever they want to do.”

Stiles watches Derek’s face that even as tired as he is just shows his fondness and excitement at the prospect.

“This wasn’t how I wanted to do this,” he starts again and Stiles looks at him curiously. But Derek just shakes his head and rolls away to root around in his nightstand drawer. When he comes back Stiles stops breathing. He’s fully awake once he lays eyes on the little box in his boyfriend’s hands. He looks back up at Derek who’s sporting a smug smile with twinkling eyes. Stiles can’t even make words and what is this world coming to he’s speechless.

“I was going to take you out to dinner or something but I realized today with this,” he rests a hand on Stiles bandaged thigh, “and everything with the kids, I just. I want this forever. I want you forever. I want to know that I’m going to have you around even when I make mistakes. I want to know that ten years, twenty, _fifty_ years from now you’re still going to be here for me to take care of and to take care of me. I love you. We joke about how we met and that I probably followed Scott’s scent but I’ve never told you it was you I was following. Even before I knew who you were you smelled like home to me, Stiles. And when you’re in my arms I feel like nothing better could ever be given to me because I have you. So,” he says with a little smirk as Stiles fights to stop the tears welling up in his eyes from falling. “Stiles ‘I don’t know your real name’ Stilinski, will you marry me?”

He pops the box open and Stiles sees the simple band and when Derek pulls it out he can see the triskele engraved on the inside of it.

“Yes,” he breathes, “Yeah, Derek I’ll marry you.”

He wiggles around on the bed while Derek holds his hand steady and puts the ring on his finger. Once it’s all the way on Stiles throws himself at Derek as much as he can and rolls them over so he’s lying on Derek’s chest kissing him hard. They kiss and kiss and only pull apart when Stiles finally runs out of air.

“I love you,” he tells him smiling when his voice comes out breathless.

It should be too exciting to fall asleep after that but it’s not surprising when after they talk quietly for only a little while that they’re both on the edge of sleep again. Stiles though is fairly content to fall asleep in Derek’s arms.

He knows that even though they have untold adventures ahead of them with Erica, Boyd, and Isaac, not to mention the rest of the pack, he’ll always have Derek.

And that thought alone is enough to have Stiles smiling as he falls asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all I have for right now guys! Hope you liked it :)

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [Tumblr](http://acountrygirlsfun.tumblr.com) pretty please.


End file.
